How has your shipping cost to buyers changed since eBay International Shipping?
Summary: The discussion revolves around experiences with eBay International Shipping (eIS), focusing on issues with shipping costs, import fees, and customer experiences. treadstone68 shares a challenge where buyers refuse delivery due to unexpected duties, noting that eBay sides with sellers if listings explicitly state buyer responsibility for fees. femmefan1946 questions the transparency of import charges and the inclusion of tariffs in the total fees. marnotom! and treadstone68 discuss the lack of shipping options for US buyers when sellers use eIS, highlighting mixed experiences with the system.
For those of you who have been automatically signed up for and are currently using the new eBay International Shipping program, I (and I'm sure many others) would like to know how your shipping prices for US buyers has changed. Also, if you are selling world-wide and were not before EIS, are you seeing any non-US international sales?
Please reply with what types of items you sell, pre-EIS typical shipping label costs and post-EIS shipping label costs and any other information you think may be useful.
Thank you! 🙂
reallynicestamps
·2 days agoI use eIS whenever possible. The buyer has been notified of the cost in advance and has agreed to it.
I have used UPS from time to time for older listings (pre-tariff or during last summer when we didn't know what was happening from day to day). The UPS shop is across the road from the PO so it is convenient.
Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, but losses are tax deductible.
I used to be able to send low value items untracked to the USA and overseas, but that is now illegal. :>)
uwantuneedgiftsandgoods
·5 months agoHey to answer your cost question with an example. I could ship One Comic to anywhere in America (I use Florida as a Base Point) for a Max of $8.12/CDN cost to the American Buyer. Through EIS it now Costs $24.83/CDN for an American Buyer. This is for an Expidited Lite Type Package under 200 Grams. It's basically unsustainable. EIS works best for clothing but it is not helping with any Collectible Sales for my Business.Let's just say it is tough to make it right now. These Collectible items are typically all Tarriff Free.
nostalgicaftertaste
·9 months agoCurious to hear from anyone who has enrolled in the program and has listings with free domestic shipping.
I'm confused because before the tariff situation, a US buyer that purchased an item off me would either be charged calculated rates for Canada Post Tracked Parcel - USA or Canada Post Expedited Parcel - USA. This shipping cost would go to me as the seller to facilitate international shipping, even if that same listing had free shipping for Canadian buyers.
I made a sale with this new program, but the transaction was treated as though the buyer selected domestic, free Lettermail shipping, not International Shipping. As things currently stand and unless I missed something, this is a problem because if someone purchases a low-end item (e.g., a $10 trading card) with free shipping, I wouldn't receive any shipping funds to cover the cost of shipping it to the facility with tracking.
I'm not sure if this is an error due to the newness of the program or due to me misunderstanding how the program works in practice, but an eBay representative helped create a ticket for me so this can be addressed one way or another. If the issue is on my end, I wouldn't even know how to create a shipping rule to cover these situations if they're being treated as domestic transactions.
Anyone else in a similar boat?
ypdc_dennis
·9 months agoA sale through this program is domestic for shipping purposes. The Seller only has to get the sale to the centre in Canada (taking it across the border to the Buyer is not the Seller's problem).
jtg204
·9 months agoDo we know yet if IES uses (charges buyer) the first listed domestic option, or the lowest domestic option?
marnotom!
·9 months agoJust a wild guess, but I'm thinking that as FVF are charged on the lowest domestic shipping option for an international sale (whether or not eIS is used), the buyer will be charged for that option.
Don't quote me, though.
treadstone68
·3 days agoI haven't sold anything yet under EIS, but when I signed up it asked me what my preferred domestic shippers were, so I assume the buyer in the US will have more than one choice.
john_koenig99
·2 days agoThat's relative. The buyers in the US for my listings have no choice but eIS. I removed the US from my shipping policies.
marnotom!
·2 days agoBuyers purchasing from sellers who use eIS have no choice (at least through the listing page and checkout) for what shipping method will be used to get the item to the hub.
byto253
·9 months agoQuestion. With EIS shipping in a listing, is "Import Fees" in addition to "Shipping Fees" or is it included in the "Shipping Fees". Reading this EIS listing for example, I am not sure.
e.g. Shipping: C$41.73 and Import Fees: C $20.59
marnotom!
·9 months agoI'm pretty sure it's a separate line item, just as "import charges" are listed separately for items listed with the UK Global Shipping Program, and how they were listed separately for the old US Global Shipping Program.
If the "import fees" were part of the shipping fee, there would probably be a note saying that they're included in the shipping charge, just as when you get a receipt for a fill-up, the GST amount is separated out on the bottom with a note that it's included with the total.
byto253
·9 months agoWish that was clearer to viewers of the listing.
It makes sense as I would assume that Import fees include the tariffs, which will increase in an auction as the price is bid up.
marnotom!
·9 months agoI don't know how much clearer it can be. At least if the item is a BIN, the various charges can be seen at Checkout and the buyer can remove the item from their cart if they don't like the charge breakdown.
For what it's worth, I just looked at a listing for a vintage boombox that's forwarded from the US with US eIS. The "import fees" were C$0.00 both on the listing page and at Checkout, but at Checkout, GST and BC PST charges showed up as line items. I can see that raising a few hackles from some buyers.
byto253
·9 months agoShipping: C $42.78 (approx US $30.46) eBay International Shipping.
See details
Located in: London, Canada
Import fees (in addition to shipping fees) Est. US $8.60 Final at checkout
-----------------------
The way it is presented assumes that the viewer will connect the dots and add import to shipping but when dealing with money and a big audience, IMHO, you cannot assume anything. Also no need to have any potential confusion with a market that is already leery and skittish about import fees.
Myself, whether listing or communicating I never provide 2 numbers and assume the reader will add them up, I always provide the total.
Anyway, IMHO, I think this would be a more transparent way to present the fees to potential buyers.
dinomitesales
·9 months agoIt's definitely "in addition to" the shipping fees. Here's an example for a $300+ item where the import fees exceed the cost of shipping.
vintage_america
·9 months agovisual-sound
·9 months agoSo I received my second call today from EBay flogging their new EIS system that I opted out of. Let's face it, the buyer always wants the cheapest price including the shipping for an item. The US GSP introduced years ago resulted in many, including myself, from no longer buying from US sellers. Before the GSP you could buy an item and pay a reasonable shipping rate. Since the GSP you'll routinely find shipping rates of $25-30.00 for a single cd or dvd (what I sell). Who in their right mind would pay that? The new EIS for Canadians is just a reworked version of the US GSP. If you think that US buyers are going to pay rates like that then you are smoking a lot of hopeium. The sooner you realize that shipping to the US is dead, the sooner you can move on to the acceptance phase. Not what people want to hear but the truth hurts sometimes!
dinomitesales
·9 months agoI get what you're saying: you're concerned that people won't buy your items because the shipping cost is too high. But I don't understand why this is a valid reason to opt out of eIS. You can still specify your own shipping costs and it will show the option to the buyer along with the eIS option. Buyers then have the choice, and will still be able to select your cheaper option if they wish.
I took a look at your listings - you seemingly only ship to Canada. By simply opting into eIS your listings are now visible to hundres of millions (if not billions) of potential customers and you don't have to do anything differently. Why are you choosing to exclude this potential pool of buyers which would come at no risk to you?
raanana
·9 months agoIn last few days I checked postcards offered by US sellers.There are still some who offer reasonable s/h or even free,but most are through the ebay shipping for 17-30$ only without any options to choose anything else.Me personally wouldn't pay as much for shipping of a postcard unless it is unique or valuable. It might work good for some,but I doubt ,that it will for those who sale small unexpensive items .
dinomitesales
·9 months agoAmerican sellers are ignorant when it comes to shipping internationally. They don't care about providing a reasonable shipping cost for us here in Canada (or to anyone worldwide); they probably have their listings set to ship to USA only and may or may not even realize their listings are showing to international buyers via eIS.
We here in Canada are more savvy. If we can provide a cheaper or better alternative to eIS then we can include it on our listings. But I still don't understand why this is reason to opt out of the service.
The only reasonable explanation I've seen to opt out of eIS is "I don't want to do business with the United States for personal/political reasons". Ok, fine, but I hope you're specifically telling the reps that if you receive a phone call from eBay. And I still don't understand why that means you have to opt out of eIS entirely - it services many more countries than the USA (and from what I can understand you can exclude USA from the service). Unless you already have a) shipping options to every country serviced by eIS; and b) can provide a cheaper shipping option that eIS (impossible to know at this point), then I don't understand why anyone would want to opt out.
raanana
·9 months agoI opted out as well for now. Curious what will be eIS price for a postcard from Canada to USA,if price is similar american prices,than I can ship cheaper with Tracked Packet USA and also use my own stamps.
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·9 months agoI'm forced to opt out by what I sell.
I want to opt out anyway because I'm sure I can't ship a coin to the UK for 7.30 with eIS considering it's 6.35 to ship it to the Hub, so I doubt eIS wants 95 cents to forward it to the UK.
I get that there's lots of benefits being in eIS, like shipping to a lot more countries. Yeah, I can't ship to every country in the world, but probably in half the countries people don't really collect coins... so there's no customers there anyway, if there are customers in some of these places they are wealthy and there's only a few, so why would they necessarily stumble upon my store if I had eIS shipping?
Stallion has great rates for small things going internationally, and I do sometimes ship without tracking on small items (to countries were there are not lots of fraudsters). eIS is not going to be able to offer my buyers cheaper shipping than I can offer. I shipped a coin today to Malaysia for 9.58 (cheaper than Canada Post). The buyer probably wouldn't have bought if it was eIS shipping.
C.
dinomitesales
·9 months agoI don't believe you're "forced" to do anything. Yes, the items you sell aren't eligible for eIS, so eIS won't be shown as an option on the listing. Why does this mean you have to opt out of the program entirely? If you plan to never ever sell an item that is eligible for eIS then fine, but I don't understand the harm in remaining opted in.
But, even assuming your item WAS eligible for eIS, I don't understand this argument. You can still show your $7.30 shipping rate with Stallion on your listing and customers can see it and choose it and you can ship to them direct.
I think people are misunderstanding how eIS works and thinking that it just overrides whatever shipping option you have on the listing?
burning_moon_video
·9 months agoThe problem is if we all conformed to eBay and opt in to eIS and just throw our hands up and say OK that's it I guess that's the only option, then eBay will have no incentive to provide us with other shipping options. They'll just think we're all good with the service even though it's most definitely going to hinder sales to the US. That's why I encourage people to pushback and tell eBay (reps or whoever) that this service isn't right for Canadian sellers and we need more options for shipping to the US (eg. integrating Zonos at checkout and bringing back discounted Canada Post labels).
troys_toys1
OP8 months agoI think eBay is going to see that EIS doesn't work at all, I've been enrolled in this new program for about 3 or 4 days now and usually I was getting about 3 sales or more a day from USA and so far I haven't gotten a single sale because to ship a t-shirt used to cost the buyer about $7 and now it's $22.99 shipping plus $4.46 import fees for a total of $27.45, an increase of over $20 for the same item. This is why I never buy from the states because shipping is insane, I don't understand why eBay would even offer EIS, they're basically screwing over their customers so they can profit on shipping meanwhile decreasing sales because no one wants to pay these ludacris shipping prices.
The only logical solution here is to opt out of EIS and figure out (if it's even possible) to charge a certain percentage extra on each sale to account for tariffs and you can then use Zonos to pay the tariffs ahead of time yourself. The main benefit here is we get the discounted Canada Post rates and no shipping charge to the ebay hub.
flipistics
·8 months agoeIS doesn't make sales go back to what they were. Nothing will short of a new President getting elected. It does provide SOME sales though, and opens up many additional countries without having to worry about all the new shipping regulations that are springing up, especially in the EU. Since I've been enrolled, almost 20% of my sales have come through eIS. That's a nice little bump.
You also won't get the eBay discounted Canada Post rates (to the USA). Most 3rd party label companies don't seem to have Zonos integrated either.
marnotom!
·8 months ago"Ludacris" is a rapper, "ludicrous" is the adjective you probably want. 😇
I'm not sure if you realize, but eIS has been available on the US site for a couple of years, and an earlier version of it--the Global Shipping Program--was a thing for about a decade prior to that, and still is for UK sellers.
As @dinomitesales pointed out, Canadian sellers seem to be a bit more sensitive about their shipping prices and international sales in general than their US and UK cousins. It all comes down to how much you value your international sales and whether the perks that come with eIS are important to you, such as protection against non-receipt and SNAD claims and the fact that eIS handles all returns on your behalf. It also has the potential to make sales to some EU countries easier.
The sellers who may benefit the most from eIS are the ones who offer "free" domestic shipping, as that has the potential to drive down the shipping costs on an eIS-supported listing. However, if that means folding in the domestic shipping charge into the item price, that's going to mean higher FVFs on sales made through eIS than ones where the domestic shipping cost is separate.
dinomitesales
·8 months agoWhat sort of time frame are we talking about here? You've been enrolled in eIS for 3-4 days (which isn't a meaningful amount of time to reach any conclusions, by the way) - are you saying that immediately prior to this you were selling 3+ items to the States? So if you were enrolled in eIS on November 10th, you were selling 3+ items a day to Americans prior to November 10th and they stopped on November 10th? So for the months of September and October you were selling 3+ items per month to Americans? If this is true, then eIS wouldn't change anything - if your concern is that eIS shipping prices are too high, and you already had an existing cheaper shipping option to the USA, then the buyers would still see that as the primary shipping option and there's no reason the buying pattern of American customers would have changed. I don't think this is what you mean though, because you only have 60 sales in the last 90 days, so unless you have additional accounts the math isn't mathing.
What I think you're saying is that prior to August 29th - and everything that happened with American shipping and de minimis - you had a healthy stream of sales to the United States. As @flipistics said, the days of such cross-border ecommerce between our two countries is over. It's not coming back. If you felt that eIS was going to make your sales go back to a pre-Aug29 level then that was misguided. eIS is a tool, not a magic wand, unfortunately.
Your listings currently show only the eIS shipping to the States, which means you haven't provided an additional shipping option to American buyers. This tells me that you turned off shipping to US buyers entirely, probably around the end of August when everyone else did. The fact that your items are now available to American buyers (when they weren't previously) has automatically increased your pool of available buyers by hundreds of millions. Sure, the shipping might be high for them, but the fact that they can see your items (and potentially buy them if they're fine with the shipping/import rates) puts you in a much better position than you were prior to November 10th (or whenever you were enrolled). Not to mention the other 30+ countries your items are now visible to because of eIS that I don't think you were shipping to before either (I'm assuming this based on the fact that you don't show any additional shipping options to these countries either).
There is no need to opt out of eIS in this case. You're making a rash and unnecessary decision based on 3-4 days of data (this time frame means absolutely nothing). You can provide your own shipping rate to the buyers if you feel you can offer a cheaper rate and it will show alongside the eIS option; more importantly, if it is cheaper than the eIS option it will be prioritized in both search results and as the default option on your listing. Give the buyer the choice - you may be surprised at their decision. Just because you find the eIS shipping rates high from USA --> Canada doesn't mean every other potential buyer on the internet feels the same way. Not to mention that if you opt out of eIS, then make sure you also add in shipping options to those other 30+ countries it services, otherwise you've just decreased your pool of potential buyers by hundreds of millions more.
mrdutch1001
·9 months ago"The sooner you realize that shipping to the US is dead, the sooner you can move on to the acceptance phase." ...
Indeed!
which is why mid-August, I ceased shipping to the USA...
However, for me it is more than just the shipping cost...it is the very fact that I will not aide & abet that felon DT in his manipulation and coersion process of extorting Revenge Tariffs...
Easy, peasy process: Accept, adjust,adapt and carry on WITHOUT the USA!
visual-sound
·9 months agoI can relate to that. Regarding DT, somethings I like and some I don't. My biggest concern if the weakness coming from Ottawa.
aviatorsparadise
·9 months agoHere's the problem with EIS... I could ship a package Canada Post (before the US issues and strike) to Florida (about $11-13) for less than I can ship the same box across the city. ($16). Now that box must go to Ontario for even more (~$30) before getting the US shipping ($11-13).
It just doesn't make financial sense.
marnotom!
·9 months agoSince eIS shipments ship to a forwarding hub in Canada, the label type and price will be for a domestic shipment, not a US-bound one.
I don't think sellers find out how much their shipping charges to the US (or anywhere else) are unless they view their listing pages the way a US buyer would.
byto253
·9 months agoWhat will the buyer end up paying as a total? They will foot the bill for the shipping to the hub, and to the destination.
luv4orphans
·9 months agoThe same way we ended up paying more when buying an item from the US when they rolled out the Global Shipping Program and then on to EIS. I complained about shipping charges going up as I kind of figured we were paying the 2 but some on here argued that it was because the post office had raised their prices. By $10-$20? Nope. Plus tacked on that $5.00 administration fee. Its good in that our job is done once it reaches the hub but in terms of sales how is this supposed to help.
I quit buying from the US pretty well unless I got a really good deal and shipping costs is not through the roof or something you can't find anywhere else like boats or motor parts sometimes. Between that and the currency exchange its crazy its sometimes cheaper now to pay the canadian prices.
marnotom!
·9 months agoIt's going to vary according to the nature of the item. If you're at all curious, start doing some searching.
Here's an example from a seller who's using both eIS and direct shipping to the US (not sure about other destinations). They're using flat-rate shipping within Canada and that would make the cost of shipping to the hub C$6.99, so eIS's share of the shipping charge shown on the listing would be C$15.68.
The issue of the import fees and the (likely) inaccurate information associated with the other shipping method is another matter entirely.
byto253
·9 months agoOk, so as expected EIS is much more expensive than doing it directly - $13 vs. $22.67. To me, it really doesn't matter how you break it down, cost to hub + EIS forwarding cost, the total cost with shipping to the buyer is my concern as that is what they pay, and that total triggers a buying decision.
The import fee on the direct shipment method is a wildcard since the seller used a generic shipping method. I would hope that in the description they provide more information. If they are using CP + Zonos they can state that there are no extra import fees.
marnotom!
·9 months agoEIS is much more expensive than shipping it through what appears to be a consolidation service such as Chit Chats or Stallion, in this case, yes. The info pages on EIS state its rates are structured to be competitive with the base non-commercial rates of major carriers, or something along those lines, though. If my calculations are correct, this item (a Blu-Ray disc) would cost C$18.11 (including fuel surcharge) to send by Tracked Packet-USA. If the seller offered free domestic shipping, eIS would actually come out on top here.
Based solely on this one example and what I've seen of the US eIS, I'd say that if shipping price is a consideration, eIS could be an option if the seller offers free domestic shipping and doesn't have access to a service such as Chit Chats or Stallion.
reallynicestamps
·8 months agoOk, so as expected EIS is much more expensive than doing it directly - $13 vs. $22.67.
Well not necessarily.
Note "import fees will apply on delivery".
While eIS is charging $1.91 for those fees and $22.67 for shipping, there is a question in my mind about what the shipping company would be charging on the buyer's doorstep for "customs brokerage fees" which seem to be integrated into the eIS shipping cost.
In theory that would be $1.91 same as eIS, but.....
Remember how UPS used to charge $25 or more for "brokerage" on imports to Canada?
There was a thread over 5000 posts long about that- preGSP and eIS for shipping from the USA.
My concern would be what happens if the US buyer decides to refuse the shipment because of those doorstep fees?
Will the shipper hand over the package and come back to the seller for payment?
Will the shipper return the package to the seller?
How long will the return take?
How will eBay treat the "refused" shipment?
EBay has so far said that refused shipments are Undeliverable and the seller owes the buyer nothing.
https://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?...
But the buyer is also covered by the chargeback policy of their credit card.
marnotom!
·8 months agoGiven that the seller relinquishes responsibility for an eIS-forwarded item once it reaches the hub, I would imagine that if the shipper has to “come after” anybody should a shipment be refused, it would be eIS.
The shipment would be returned to the hub and the item would be liquidated, which would defray any charges, if any, that eIS was responsible for paying.
treadstone68
·3 days agoI have not sold anything through EIS yet, but my last two sales to the USA were both cases where the buyer refused delivery. When they buyers requested a return, I was surprised the eBay sided with me in refused a refund. The KEY is that your listing MUST SAY that the buyer is responsible for brokerage fees and duties. Pretty sure eBay shows a similar message under the price of the item, but I specifically added the message to my item description (listing). The two items were not returned to me by UPS, and from what I read it suggest that refused items are destroyed. Anyhow I am reluctantly going with EIS because US customers that DO NOT READ, will be constantly requesting a refund, and that cannot be a good thing for repeat customers, and you end up wasting time fighting for negative feedback to be removed.... and a few angry emails back and forth.
femmefan1946
·9 months agoMy concern would be the difference between
"import fees will apply on delivery"
and
"import fees ; est C$1.91"
If the second includes ALL import fees, including Trump's Tariff, is it then collected from the buyer when they pay for their purchase?
@devon@ebay
rosscd57
·9 months ago"import fees ; est C$1.91"
If the second includes ALL import fees, including Trump's Tariff, is it then collected from the buyer when they pay for their purchase?"
Yep! It works just like the Global Shipping program from US. to Canada. The shipping includes all the fees and tariffis if any, then the item price is added and that is on only amount paid.
rosscd57
·9 months agoAnd one other thing: this is a bonanza for eBay since the total cost of shipping is going up. eBay will of course now take a bigger bite as they charge their fees on the total which includes of course the additional cost of the shipping'
recped
·9 months agoNot really, fees are based on the lowest price offered for domestic shipping. This applies to all shipments EIS or direct.
Domestic shipping locally $5
US shipping $15
Overseas shipping $25
For all of the above FVF's are calculated on $5.
This would also apply if you are shipping direct to the US and including tariffs and fees in your shipping charge.
uwantuneedgiftsandgoods
·5 months agoThey actually only charge the fees based on the Shipping cost to the local Hub not the total of the shipping the buyer pays. I thought the same thing at first but thankfully it is just the fees on the domestic charge which actually works out to lower fees for us as Sellers which is good when it comes to sending things internationally
uwantuneedgiftsandgoods
·5 months agoIf you go to view your listing just go to where it says see details in the shipping section of the listing. Open that up and Select the Country and Zip/Postal Code and it will give you the estimated total with Traiff/Duty rates so you can see what your Buyer is seeing based on the country/location. I hope this helps
byto253
·9 months agoNot sure if many people actually have it up and running yet. There was one post earlier that said they had checked EIS listings in Montreal and the rate for the US was about 2.5 times the chitchat rate.
Considering that shipping is paid to the hub, then again to the US that would not be a surprise. But as you asked, it will be interesting to see some direct feedback from sellers.
mrdutch1001
·9 months agoIndeed!, can't wait to see the bit*hing from sellers who think eIS is going to be the next great thing here on eBay!
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·9 months agoI really can't understand why everyone thinks eIS is so great... when I buy stuff on eBay.com, like clothing, I pay around $25 USD for shipping (which includes applicable duty/taxes), I'm only OK with that because I buy $200 dresses for $25 (plus another $25 in shipping), so it seems like a good deal to get something nearly new at a 75% discount.
I realize what I sell doesn't qualify for the program, but I can't understand why anyone would pay eIS on the stuff I sell... It's around $9 (CAD) to ship to the US with Stallion for a coin or two, and $7.50 to ship to the UK, and I did a big coin set to Korea earlier today for $13.
I seriously doubt any of these buyers would be getting a good price from eIS.
C.